‘Militant’ readies fight after officials in Pennsylvania prison bar paper
https://themilitant.com/2021/01/30/militant-readies-fight-after-officials-in-pennsylvania-prison-bar-paper/
BY TERRY EVANS
Vol. 85/No. 5
February 8, 2021
On Jan. 25 the Militant received a letter from an inmate at the Camp
Hill State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania saying his
subscription to the paper had been impounded. He sent a copy of the
prison’s Notice of Incoming Publication Denial and said he planned to
fight to overturn it.
“The Militant will fight this latest ban by prison officials, as we do
every time they attack prisoners’ rights,” John Studer, the paper’s
editor, said the next day. “He has a right to read the news he wants and
we have a right to reach our subscribers without interference.”
The form doesn’t help understand prison officials’ reason for barring
the Militant. It says something on page 2 of this year’s issue no. 1
could “create a danger within the context of the correctional facility.”
But the only article on page 2 is “Workers in Scotland Speak Out Against
Economic, Health Crisis,” a news report on political developments there,
with no mention of prisons or the capitalist criminal “justice” system.
Later the notice lists a “brief description” that the problem is
“Socialist Workers Party Action, speaks on social unrest and standing
against law enforcement.” This may be a reference to “The Socialist
Workers Party action program,” the platform of the SWP candidates in
both the 2020 presidential election and in 2021 races across the country.
It says, “The Socialist Workers Party presents a fighting working-class
program. We need to organize to fight growing employer attacks on our
jobs, wages and working conditions.”
This platform was printed in dozens of Militant issues over the last
year, and mailed to over two dozen subscribers in Pennsylvania prisons
without complaint. One section, entitled “Fight Police Brutality!” urges
readers to join in demanding cops be held accountable for brutality they
visit on working people and against racist discrimination. It says, “The
entire capitalist injustice system, with its frame-ups, ‘plea bargains,’
onerous bail and ‘three strike’ prison sentences, all of which
disproportionately hit workers who are Black.”
The subscriber at Camp Hill also writes that the same day he got notice
of the ban of the Militant he was asked by a prison counselor about his
political views “as a communist and anti-fascist.”
The Militant was banned by authorities at Camp Hill once before last
July, involving a different subscriber. This ban was rapidly reversed
after it was brought to the attention of state officials in the
Department of Corrections.
The Militant’s attorney, David Goldstein, is in the process of
contacting state prison officials to let them know the paper is going to
appeal to overturn the impoundment, unless they reject the ban themselves.
“The Militant urges defenders of free speech and political rights to
send letters to prison authorities urging them to reverse this ban,”
Studer said. “And send copies to the Militant.”
Front Page Articles
Fight for workers control of production, job safety
In struggle, workers advance unity, class consciousness
Workers win wage hike in NY produce market strike
‘Help us put the Socialist Workers Party on the ballot!’
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in India protest against gov’t attack
‘Militant’ readies fight after officials in Pennsylvania prison bar paper
US gov’t pushes assault on rights, claims target is ‘domestic terror’
Feature Articles
Cuban Revolution advances food production despite US embargo
Also In This Issue
Mass protests across Russia demand ‘Free Alexei Navalny’
Tunisian youth protest lack of jobs, police brutality
‘Stimulus’ fund for ‘Militant’ over $55,000!
SWP campaign helps win long-term readers to ‘Militant’
Minneapolis protest: ‘Defend the Cuban Revolution!’
New Zealand home workers protest boss attacks
New Biden directive is blow to fight for women’s rights
California protesters: ‘Free Carlos Harris!’
On the Picket Line
Oil workers strike against subcontracting, for safety
Rolls-Royce bosses back off plan to cut jobs at Barnoldswick plant
Books of the Month
‘Building a new society is the work of creative human beings’
25, 50 and 75 years ago
© Copyright 2021 The Militant - 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor - New
York, NY 10018 - themilitant@xxxxxxx
Cookies
This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more.
Okay, thanks
--
George H. Smith “It is my firm conviction that man has nothing to gain,
emotionally or otherwise, by adhering to a falsehood, regardless of how
comfortable or sacred that falsehood may appear. Anyone who claims, on
the one hand, that he is concerned with human welfare, and who demands,
on the other hand, that man must suspend or renounce the use of his
reason, is contradicting himself. There can be no knowledge of what is
good for man apart from knowledge of reality and human nature, and there
is no manner in which this knowledge can be acquired except through
reason. To advocate irrationality is to advocate that which is
destructive to human life.” ― George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God